BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 839
AUTHOR: Brownley
AMENDED: May 27, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 29, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : School Breakfast Program.
SUMMARY
This bill requires school district governing boards to
assess and discuss specific information regarding access to
and participation in the School Breakfast Program, as well
as include that information in the consolidated application
for certain state and federal categorical funding.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Requires each school district or county superintendent
of schools serving any of grades K-12 to provide for
each needy pupil one nutritionally adequate free or
reduced-price meal during each schoolday. (Education
Code 49550)
2) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to provide information and limited financial assistance
to encourage the startup and expansion of the School
Breakfast Program, and annually provide information and
funds to schools that meet the following criteria:
a) At least 20% of the enrolled children have
applied and qualify for free and reduced-price
meals.
b) The school has not been awarded federal
startup funds for breakfast or summer food service
program. (EC 49550.3)
3) Defines needy children as those who meet federal
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eligibility criteria for free and reduced price meals
(currently a family of four with an annual income of
$29,005 is eligible for free meals and a family of four
with an annual income of $41,348 is eligible for
reduced-price meals). (EC 49552)
4) Provides for the consolidated application process,
whereby school districts, county offices of education
and direct-funded charter schools may apply to the CDE
for funding for various state and federal categorical
programs, such as bilingual education, Economic Impact
Aid, programs providing assistance to disadvantaged,
federal professional development programs, California's
Peer Assistance and Review program, and school safety
programs. (EC 64000)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires school district boards to assess and
discuss specific information regarding access to and
participation in the School Breakfast Program, as well as
include that information in the consolidated application for
certain state and federal categorical funding.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires school districts that elect to apply for
funding through the consolidated application process
to, while in the process of approving the consolidated
application, assess and discuss each of the following:
a) Access to the School Breakfast Program.
i) The district board must identify
the number of pupils who are eligible for
free and reduced-price meals and attend a
school that does not operate a breakfast
program.
ii) The district board must include in
the consolidated application a statement that
does all of the following:
a) Affirms which schools not
operating a breakfast program will not
begin a program and the reasons for the
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continued lack of a breakfast program at
those schools.
b) Indicates which schools
not operating a breakfast program will
begin to operate a program and provides
a date of program implementation for
each of those schools.
b) Participation in the School Breakfast
Program. The district board is required to do all
of the following:
i) Use existing data that is regularly
collected to claim school meal reimbursements
to identify schools within the district that
have low participation in the breakfast
program. This bill defines schools with low
participation in the breakfast program as
those in which either of the following
applies:
a) Average daily
participation of pupils who are eligible
for free and reduced-price meals in the
breakfast program is 20% or less than
the average daily participation in the
school lunch program.
b) Average daily
participation of pupils eligible for
free and reduced-price meals in the
breakfast program is 15% or less than
the number of pupils eligible for free
and reduced-price meals.
ii) Consider options, including, but
not limited to, alternative service
locations, service times, and payment
structures for operating the school breakfast
program.
iii) Include in the consolidated
application a statement that:
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a) Indicates which schools
within the district that operate a
school breakfast program with low
participation will continue the program
without operational changes, including,
but not limited to, changes in service
locations, service times, or payment
structures, and the reasons and fiscal
analyses for not making these changes.
b) Indicates which schools
within the district that operate a
breakfast program with low participation
will implement operational changes to
the program and provides a date of
implementation for those changes.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Purpose of the bill . According to the author, "School
breakfast consumption is associated with better
nutrition, better health and improved academic
achievement. Children who eat breakfast have healthier
diets, perform better in school and are less likely to
be overweight or obese. Today, millions of low income
kids in California attend schools that do not offer the
federally funded School Breakfast Program or that
operate the program but aren't reaching enough
students. Schools can improve student health, bolster
academic achievement and capitalize on available
federal funds by putting breakfast first."
2) Barriers . In 2008, WestEd released a study relative to
the feasibility of providing breakfast at schools,
which focused on "severe need" schools that do not
offer breakfast, defined by the federal government as
schools where at least 40% of the lunches served were
free or reduced price meals. The study found that
challenges to initiating breakfast programs include
logistics of coordinating breakfast with bus and
classroom schedules, anticipated lack of participation,
extra paper work required, and cost to hire an
additional staff. This bill requires districts to
include in the consolidated application the reasons why
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schools either do not offer school breakfast or have
low participation in the school breakfast program.
3) Fiscal impact . This bill requires school district
boards to assess and discuss specific information about
access to and participation in the School Breakfast
Program, as well as include that information in the
consolidated application. According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, this bill would impose
General Fund (Proposition 98) cost pressure to school
districts, likely less than $200,000, to meet all of
the reporting and public disclosure requirements.
4) Prior legislation . AB 1966 (Garcia, 2008) would have
required schools that enroll more than 400 pupils and
meet the qualifications of federal severe need
reimbursement to offer breakfast, beginning with the
2010-11 school year. AB 1966 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 92 (Garcia, 2007) would have required schools that meet
the qualifications of the federal severe need
reimbursement to offer breakfast, beginning with the
2008-09 school year. AB 92 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
SUPPORT
California Chiropractic Association
California Food Policy Advocates
California School Employees Association
California School Nurses Organization
California Teachers Association
Junior League of Los Angeles
Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee
OPPOSITION
California Right to Life Committee
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